German Prosecutors Move to Lift Parliamentary Immunity of Right-Wing Leader

Frauke Petry, the co-chair of Alternative For Germany (AfD), the small state, anti-mass migration party is the subject of an attempt to strip her of the immunity extended to all German parliamentarians.

Reuters reports:

German prosecutors have asked for far-right politician Frauke Petry’s parliamentary immunity to be lifted in a case relating to allegations that she lied to election officials about her Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s finances.

The allegations, relating to the financing of AfD’s 2014 Saxony state election campaign, are another blow for a party that has seen its standing in the polls collapse as a global tide of populism recedes following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The perjury allegations, first raised by rival political parties and which Petry denies, involve claims that she and her colleagues gave differing accounts of candidates’ campaign finances. Petry, the party’s co-chairman, is AfD’s best-known politician.